Questionnaires

Created by

Zahra Samad

Cards (22)

Which type of sociologists use questionnaires?
Positivists because they achieve the main positivist goal of the liability, generalisability and representativeness.
Interpretivists reject the use of questionnaires because they tell us little about the meanings held by social actors, they fail to achieve the main goal of the validity
what are the reasons for no responses to questionnaires?
Failure to make contact -> people have moved on holiday working away from home or simply out when the researcher tries to get in touch
Contact is made -> but interview cannot be conducted because the person is ill deaf, can’t speak. Speak English or busy
Person refuses to participate -> no time, no interest, or they find a subject to upsetting
Strength of questionnaires: Practical Advantages
quick, and easy way to gather large amounts of data from large amounts of people, there is no need to train, interviewers or observers to collect data, it is easy to quantify since it is pre-coded and closed questions. Allow computers to find patterns quickly.
EG: a sociologist, studying education, can send a questionnaire to hundreds of students across different schools, which saves time
Strength of questionnaires: Reliability
if repeated the method should gather similar results, because of respondents are asked exactly the same questions in the same order, and there is no interviewer present to influence the results.
EG: if a sociologist conduct, a questionnaire on attitudes towards education and repeats it with a different group, they are likely to get similar results, ensuring the findings are consistent overtime
Strength of questionnaires: detachment and objectivity
researchers personal involvement is kept to a minimum, so they cannot influence the results, meaning the method is more objective and unbiased
EG: Sociologists. Studying gender differences can use a questionnaire to gather data without directly interacting with participants.
Strength of questionnaires: Representativeness
Questionnaires can be used to collect large data samples, so they have a greater chance of being representative since larger samples are more representative. So findings are more generalisable.
EG: Sociologist can send questionnaires to thousands of students across different schools to ensure result of representative of students nationally
Strength of questionnaires: Ethical
questionnaires or ethically, safer because they give participants the option to remain anonymous and skip questions. They are uncomfortable asking and require informed consent
as sociologist, researching sensitive topics can ensure anonymity
Strength of questionnaires: High in reliability
Questionnaires are consistent as they have standardised questions. Therefore they could be replicated and patterns and trends can be established.
If a sociologist distributes a questionnaire on social attitudes towards crime, another research, I could use the same questionnaire with a different sample and get similar results.
Weakness of questionnaires: Practical problems
Limited and superficial data because questionnaires need to be brief or respondents about complete them. This reduces the amount of information that can be gathered from questionnaires.
sociologist sends out a questionnaire on family life, people may not respond or script questions they find unclear or irrelevant resulting in incomplete data
Weaknesses of questionnaires: inflexibility
Questionnaires are highly inflexible since once the questions have made they can’t be changed and new ones. Can’t be asked to explore deeper. This reduces the validity of the data.
EG: If a sociologist asked a closed questions. The participant can only choose, yes, or no, without explaining why limiting the researcher is ability to understand, complex reasons behind responses.
Weaknesses of questionnaires: Detachment
Interpretivist argue that questionnaire lack validity since they don’t study the meanings that people attached to their actions. They are the most attached of all primary methods because there’s no contact between researcher and respondent or and there is no opportunity for further clarification.
EG: Researcher conducting a study in poverty should be detached from the subject of the study, ensuring personal experiences or emotions do not influence how they interpret the data?
Weaknesses of questionnaires: Lying, forgetting and ‘right answerism’
This tends to happen when the respondents are not willing to offer full and frank responses. Respondents may like forget, not know not understand or try to please or second-guess the researcher. They may also try to please the researcher and give them the answer that is socially desirable.
Weaknesses of questionnaires: Imposing the researchers meanings
Questionnaires are more likely to impose a research as meetings than the respondents. By choosing the questions to ask, the researcher has already decided what is important and what is not and the respondents must try to fit their own views into the ones on the offer so can’t give their own view when it’s different to the ones that are given..
EG: An interview research may ask questions that suggest a specific answer or framework
(Main issue when investigating Education) operationalising concepts
Converting abstract ideas into measurable ones. This can be challenging when designing questionnaires for pupils due to their limited grasp of abstract ideas so may produce answers that are based on their misunderstanding, It may lead to misunderstandings or overly simplified questions that lose sociological value. Sociologists may oversimplify the question so much that they lose value.
(Main Issue when investigating Education) samples, and sampling frame
Schools have lists of pupil, staff and parents -> useful for representativeness.
It means opportunity samples are available
These lists may not align with the researchers needs (e,g; specific, ethnic groups) and schools may restrict access to confidentiality
Younger pupils may be influenced by pressure when doing questionnaires so will not ask truthfully
(Main Issue when investigating Education) Access and response rate
Response may be low, if schools refused to participate due to disruption/sensitive topics
BUT if they alter by the headteacher response rates are high as pupils and teachers are compelled to do it, therefore may produce representative data.
BUT teachers may avoid these lengthy questionnaires
(Main Issue when investigating Education) Practical issues
may be unsuitable for young children or those with learning difficulties due to reading requirements/short attention spans
Children may lack life experience to answer, accurately, limiting the questionnaires value
If the questionnaire is delivered class by class, it’s purpose may be known through the entire school therefore affecting responses
Teachers may adjust answers to fit the perceived research claims
(Main Issue when investigating Education) anonymity and detachment
Questionnaires are useful for researching sensitive issues due to anonymity - it can reduce fear of retribution and lead to valid data.
but it depends where the young pupils are reassured that they will be kept anonymous. This is hard because questionnaires are a detached method. Interpretivist reject questionnaires for lacking rapport, because it can make young people less honest. Questionnaires may also appear formal and authoritative, meaning pupils who have an anti-school subculture will be resistant to it.
Weaknesses of Questionnaires: Low Response Rate
P: low response rates.
E: Many people may not complete or return questionnaires, which can lead to a smaller sample size and reduce the representativeness of the data collected.
E: For example, in surveys conducted on public attitudes toward education, many individuals may choose not to respond, especially if the questionnaire is long or not immediately relevant to their lives. This leads to non-response bias, where certain groups may be underrepresented.
Weaknesses of Questionnaires: Lack Validity
P: lack validity due to the detached nature of the method.
E: Since questionnaires typically require participants to answer in a structured format without much opportunity for elaboration, they may not capture the depth of participants' true feelings or experiences.
E: For instance, in a study on workplace satisfaction, employees might answer questions in a way that aligns with what they think the researcher wants to hear.
Strength of Questionnaires: Hypothesis Testing
P: useful for hypothesis testing.
E: Can be designed to collect specific information that tests a researcher’s hypothesis, allowing for clear, measurable results.
E: For eg, a researcher might hypothesize that people who exercise regularly are happier. They could use a questionnaire to ask participants about their exercise habits and their levels of happiness, and then analyze the data to see if there is a correlation.
L: This makes questionnaires a valuable tool for testing hypotheses
Strength of Questionnaires: Easily Distributed
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P: easily distributed.
E: Questionnaires can be distributed to a large number of students, teachers, or parents, either online or on paper, allowing for wide reach and quick data collection.
E: For example, a researcher studying student attitudes toward school uniforms can distribute questionnaires to students across multiple schools, collecting data from a large sample in a relatively short period of time.
L: This ease of distribution allows the researcher to gather a broad range of perspectives,